SCP 087: The Stairwell
by Mangerang
Summary: To Secure, Contain, and Protect. SCP object 087 has been reopened for exploration and research, a new member of the Foundation has been given this case as his first assignment, to take a D class personnel and armed guard with him into the stairwell. Tony Stark meets the life-sentenced man registered as Steve Rogers but can't foresee what they'll encounter in the darkness of SCP 087
1. Chapter 1

**Zafona's Notes:**

**Heya guys! This is the first SCP-Object story that matsu and I started writing about. Matsu wrote the start up story for this SCP universe, it's called To Secure Contain and Protect. It explains what the SCP are and the general foundation of this universe. This one in particular is Avengers. There will be crossovers into the series Supernatural and possibly other things, if we decide to AU the shit out of everything lol **

**This is an Alternate Universe for every fandom that we use, you don't necessarily need to have seen every show and/or movie used to enjoy it :) The universe is continuous, what happens in this story can and probably will be mentioned later in other stories. If it's titled SCP it's part of this verse ;)**

* * *

SCP-087

To Secure, Contain, and Protect: The SCP Foundation is an international organization responsible for the safe capture and containment of extra-dimensional, extra-terrestrial, and supernatural entities. The Foundation contains and researches these anomalies for the protection of civilization as we know it. There are three levels of SPC objects, classified based on their potential threat as follows: Safe, Euclid, and Keter. SCP personnel are carefully trained and selected, and submitted to regular and extensive psychological testing.

Item #: SCP-087

Object Class: Euclid

Tony Stark dragged his hands through his hair for the twentieth time in the hour. Of all the cases to be assigned to first, they considered _this_ to be taking it easy? He was stationed at Research Site-23, a facility built around the SCP-087 object. The nature of SCP-087 was such that moving it was an impossibility. As such SCP-087 had been cornered off, a janitorial door consistent with the design of the building serving as its disguise. Tony looked over his assignment again, "It's a stairwell in a university basement. That's it." At face value, that's all it was. The armed guards were a little off-putting, but overall 087 hadn't proven to be all that dangerous.

He went through the assignment again. In total there had been four exploration missions conducted by Dr. Banner and his colleagues. Tony himself had access to three of the exploration logs, what happened to the fourth, he wasn't sure. What the exploration logs did reveal was that while SCP-087 appeared to be nothing more than a bottomless staircase, it did contain specimen SCP-087-1. This specimen had been encountered on every exploration, and was typically the cause of cessation for the mission. Analyses of the video stream from the D-class participants in the stairwell indicate that specimen SCP-087-1 is mobile, as it appeared at different levels in the explorations. It is also known to close in on explorers once seen. The specimen is only described as a humanoid face with no visible pupils, nostrils or mouth.

The origin of SCP-087, like nearly all SCPs, is unknown. It is an unlit platform staircase. Stairs descend 13 steps before reaching a semicircular platform 3 meters in diameter. Descent direction turns 180 degrees on each platform. A light source is required for exploration, as there are no lighting fixtures or windows present. Lighting sources brighter than 75 watts have proven ineffective, the nature of the shadows contained in SCP-087 seem unnatural or supernatural in origin, and dispel any lights of a brighter wattage.

The exploration of SCP-087 had been disbanded after Exploration-IV. Tony found that the data file for this record was redacted, and he lacked the overseer level clearance required to view it. He sighed and closed the folder. He would be meeting with Dr. Banner tomorrow morning at oh-eight-hundred hours to discuss the recommencement of research on specimen SCP-087.

Tony Stark was a new member of the Foundation, and as his first assignment he was tasked with the reboot of SCP-087 at Research Site-23, formerly known as Containment Site-56. He would be assisting Dr. Bruce Banner in the exploration of the stairwell by personally accompanying a small task force into the stairwell, with enough provisions to last them approximately twenty-one days. Tony himself held a Ph.D. in physics and engineering, and would be the specialist on the force. His primary responsibility would be to remain in constant communication with Dr. Banner, and provide sound observations and analyses of incidents incurred in the duration of the exploration. The remaining two spots on the task force were to be filled by one D-class personnel, and one armed SCP personnel with level 3 clearance.

Tony flipped through the folders, grabbing the personnel file for the other two members.

D-Class Personnel: Steve Rogers

Sentence: Life Imprisonment

Every D-Class personnel were selected from condemned inmate populations. The nature of the position was experimental, and many personnel in the past had lost their lives while research was performed on SCPs. Placement in D-Class was usually voluntary, and a deal of some sort was typically struck between the Foundation and the inmate to assure their cooperation. Tony wondered what Steve's deal was. The files never focused on the crime, just the length of imprisonment. Death row inmates were preferred, followed by those sentenced to life. Tony couldn't say that he was thrilled to be working with a D-class personnel, but that wasn't his decision to make. It was highly unusual that a D-class would even come into contact with regular personnel at all, as they were typically greatly restricted in their mobility and interactions.

From what Tony knew, anyone who signed up for the Foundation's D-class had their history more or less erased. They entered service with the intentions of clearing their names, or getting a full pardon. They were housed on Foundation containment Sectors in prison-like dormitories. D-class personnel were prohibited from interacting with other D-classes if they weren't assigned to the same SCP that they were, they had curfews, and were required to submit to polygraph testing daily, and eighteen hundred hours.

That was another one of Tony's duties on the task force: administering the polygraph test to Steve in the stairwell wouldn't be at all feasible, and Tony was responsible for declaring the man reasonably responsible to continue. The rules of the foundation were strict, and if Steve were to ever miss a polygraph test, he would be subject to immediate termination under normal conditions. And termination of D-class personnel was not pretty. Tony shuddered to think that he might be responsible for the death of a teammate, but that's why they were recruited from criminals: they were expendable.

The second task force member was a level 3 clearance SCP personnel by the name of Bucky Barnes. His file was fairly nondescript, a young man of average build, good health, and normal psychological screenings. He was trained in security, and would be armed throughout the duration of their excursion. They were exploring a _stairwell_- what in the world could have happened on Exploration-IV that they'd need an armed security officer to accompany them? It made Tony a little uncomfortable, but he had known that when he'd joined the Foundation.

Tony closed the files and slumped in his seat, tomorrow would be a long day, and he'd need his rest.

* * *

Morning came and almost went. Tony's phone alarm was rendered useless as the phone's audio settings remained on 'vibrate only.' The device crawled slowly across the desk's surface as the first alarm rang, and then the first missed call, and the second, before it fell to its untimely demise. The clatter that erupted as the phone broke apart on the floor woke Tony abruptly. The man sat straight in his chair, his mind whirring to life as he unconsciously wiped the saliva from his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes drifted to the empty space on the desk where his phone should be, and then to the wall clock instead: nine am.

"CRAP!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and subsequently crushing his phone back underfoot. "Crap, crap, crap!" Tony dropped down and scooped up the pieces of his damaged phone and quickly popped the battery back into its place. While his android rebooted he quickly gathered up the folders and stray files into a neat(ish) pile. He checked the phone's display, just the two missed calls. One was his overseer, and the other was Dr. Banner himself. "I'm so fired," Tony groaned, smacking his phone to his forehead.

He rushed about his study, collecting his clothes and affects and a quick breakfast bar. His jacket was half way over his shoulder with the oatmeal bar protruding from his mouth as he descended the four flights of stairs and hit 'redial.'

"Dr. Stark," the Overseer's bland voice droned over the speaker, "I'm very unimpressed. You were hired by the good word of many of my finest men, and so far I'm not seeing it."

"I'm so sorry," Tony replied around a mouthful of oatmeal, "It was my-"

"I don't want excuses," the Overseer cut him off, "I need you to head over to Area 12's housing level and collect personnel D-09857 from his quarters."

"You mean Rogers?" Tony asked to clarify. If he was late, shouldn't the inmate already be at Banner's lab?

"Who else? Now get going, the override code is 279852. That should give you access to his dorm." The line went dead as soon as Tony confirmed the information.

Tony sped the entire distance between his study and Area 12, the whole trip he concerned himself more with what kind of person this Steve Rogers might be than the mission he was currently late for. He was given the clearance code for the man's dorm, and he wasn't an armed personnel. Tony supposed that the staff put a fair deal of trust in the inmate not to harm anyone. Or it was a test, or maybe Tony would be escorted once he was on the premises. Or it could simply be that the Overseer was using an unofficial punishment tactic for being late on his first mission.

Once he arrived on site at Area 12 Tony realized just how strict the Foundation was with their D-class personnel. Anyone found outside of their quarters wore a mask so they would not recognize any other D-class. There were no common areas, as interaction between D personnel was actively condemned. Tony walked along the neatly labelled halls until he found the dormitory labelled '09857.' He took a deep breath to steady himself, and punched the clearance code into the keypad next to the airlock door.

The door swished open with hardly a sound, granting Tony access to the rooms beyond. There was a small hall with an adjoining closet as an entrance, and beyond that there were the basic amenities: a kitchenette, living room, and bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. Tony let himself in, taking a good look at his surroundings as he went. Tony peered into the living room, looking for signs of occupancy. What he found nearly floored him. The man in the center of the room was in his early to mid twenties and in peak physical condition. He was working on a set of push-ups, and if Tony would have wagered a guess from the numbers mouthed by the man, he was somewhere in the two hundreds. The man was shirtless and perfectly toned, covered in a sheen of sweat as his muscled pulled and flexed, lifting the bulk of his weight over and over again.

Tony cleared his throat to get the man's attention.

Blue eyes shot up to see him, slightly alarmed though that calmed down mostly. It was never good when someone entered your room, especially not when they didn't call into the space to draw you closer. Steve had also immediately noticed the lack of armed guards and told himself that this was the personnel meant to take him on the mission. Steve stopped what he was doing and lifted himself up, grabbing a nearby towel to dry himself off a little, the whole while keeping eye contact with the much smaller man standing before him.

"Hi," Tony said lamely, at a complete loss of words in the face of such physical prowess.

Steve looked the other man over, breaking their gaze to get a better feel for the physical capabilities of his new partner. "Hi." He finally said after looking back to Tony's face, noting the large brown eyes seemed to be nervous as hell. "You're late." He started walking to where his bed and dresser were kept; most of his living area was a wide open space, no sense in wasting materials for a criminal who wouldn't get visitors anyway. "I was starting to think the mission had been cancelled." He was aware that since the head of the mission was present now he didn't have time for a shower. He settled for wetting the towel and quickly wiping up what he thought would be uncomfortable and vying for a layer or two of deodorant.

"Uhh, yeah," Tony tapped the display on his phone, only to realize that the battery had fallen out in his pocket without its backing. "Dammit," he cursed again, "because this crap always happens." He dug around in his pocket and retrieved the battery and rebooted his phone for the second time that morning. "Sorry about that," he muttered quickly, still fussing with his phone. Tony looked up and caught a glimpse of the sculpted man towelling off, and diverted his eyes back to his phone, finally making note of the time: quarter to ten in the morning. He would be over two hours late by the time he made it to Banner's.

Steve Rogers was a very well kept man for a criminal. His body was free of hair other than the obvious combed style on top of his head and the eyebrows on his face. He took care of his body and his living space. Everything was clean, organized and by no means resembled some of the cells the other D-class personnel had. He didn't smell other than the slight musk from working out for the last few hours, and even then it wasn't the kind of thing you have to cover your nose about. He pulled on a white t-shirt that seemed to be a generally D-class shirt, peeling it over his swollen muscles and forcing it down his damp torso.

"You're new, aren't you?" Steve asked after a moment, finding the right pair of pants, ones that were clean and that he hadn't spent the last few hours sweating in. On that thought, he decided to find new underwear as well.

"Relatively new," Tony replied, attempting to be discreet as he chanced a glance or two the other man's way. If all went according to plan, he'd be stuck in a stairwell with this guy for the next three weeks, with time reserved for one-on-one psychological assessments. '_His head isn't what I'd like to get into..._' Tony could've slapped himself for thinking it. He was new, as Steve was so kind to point out, and those sorts of thoughts were nothing short of unprofessional.

"Right..." Steve wasn't really sure he cared but making a noise or saying something in general was the polite thing to do. He stripped off his pants and underwear; you learn to have no pride as a D-class man. He grabbed the towel, wetting it again and making sure to quickly wipe the lasting sweat away before pulling the clean garments on, not bothering to look up and check Tony's discomfort. "Anyway, I'm sure you know but I'm Steve Rogers, nice to meet you."

Tony gawked, he couldn't help it. '_Alright, Houston, we have a visual_.' Was the entire trip going to be like this? No, of course not –there are no showers in stairwells. Well, that was an unpleasant thought. Three weeks suddenly felt like a long time. "Yes," Tony replied quickly, trying desperately to cover his gawking, and hoping that the larger –_much_ larger- man hadn't noticed. "Yes, I read your file. My name's Tony Stark, it is a pleasure to meet you." Tony extended his hand to shake Steve's.

Steve took it firmly, feeling out the strength of Tony's shake. It was always a minor detail about a person, the way they shook your hand. Was it a challenge, did they try to show you how strong they were, did they not care, was it weak, or was it purposefully weak? There were more questions and the answers each told him something new. Tony's handshake was decidedly pleasant though firm, as in he'd had something to prove at one point but not to Steve. A smile crossed the blonde's face and he nodded, "Alright, Mr. Stark, I suggest we get going."

Before they walked out of the room Steve picked up the mask he was meant to wear, a nearly emotionless thing with eye holes, a curve for his nose and a drawn on mouth, flat and straight across, a little too wide to be normal. The thing originally had been blank with just the eyes but Steve had added little things, the mouth was one, he'd painted realistic eyebrows onto it, aged lines around the eyes and nose. It even had the most realistically painted tear tracks down the cheeks. The face that had been painted onto the mask looked nothing like Steve's; in fact it was far creepier to look at than the other masks anyone else wore. Steve wasn't the only one to decorate his mask but his was the most human looking so far.

Tony regarded the mask for a moment, and felt a chill run down his spine. He was in way over his head. For the Foundation, he could do. For science, he could do. But spending nearly a month in a hole away from all forms of jurisdiction with this behemoth of a man, who for all Tony knew was a serial killer and hot as fuck, he could not do. He remembered in passing that D-class had limited interactions, not with other D-class, and rarely with personnel with level 4 security clearance like Tony. Most often, they were thrown at SCPs. Most often, they died within months of joining the Foundation. Tony wondered how long Steve had been around.

The ride to the site was quiet at best, at least in Steve's case. He wasn't allowed to know the location of SCP-087 and thusly had been blindfolded as soon as he'd stepped outside, the guards waiting out there insisting that they do it because they'd been trained. Steve wanted to crack a joke about how they were trained in the most skilled art of blindfolding but decided to not aggravate anyone on his first trip out in months. He really wanted to see the outdoors but didn't want to risk lifting the cloth and getting shot. So instead he sat quietly listening to the sounds of the car. Tony's car, which seemed odd to Steve, he thought there'd be more people accompanying since this mission required a D-class personnel in the first place.

Tony wanted to say something, to get to know the man a little better before diving off into the great unknown with him. He was going to be responsible for Steve's psych assessments, and he had nothing to go on. No previous assessment had been disclosed to him yet, and he hadn't the faintest of what was normal for the other man. "So, what do you normally think about?" A lame question, but it was as close as Tony could think to get to a personal conversation.

Steve looked up though he couldn't see, a little surprised by the question. He'd never really been asked that, in that way anyway. Tony was new so it could be that he didn't know what he was doing or it could just be that this was how he operated. He'd be administering the psych tests, Steve knew that much, so was it his way of trying to get inside his head? Regardless, Steve didn't see the point in not cooperating. "Family, home, what I want to draw next, when my next SCP visit will be or which one." He shrugged and laid his head back against the soft cushion of the seat's headrest. He licked his lips, pink tongue dragging over the soft flesh to wet them and he laughed bitterly, "Food. I think about food a lot. Most D-class, or me anyway, not sure about the others, get the same portions of food regardless of their body's needs. I'm hungry probably 90% of the time. So food's a big one."

Tony glanced across at the other man, wishing he'd missed that small action of his tongue. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore the extremely unprofessional thoughts lingering in the corners of his mind. "Unfortunately, I don't think our rations will be anything spectacular." Tony chuckled. Steve was blindfolded, and Tony took the opportunity to surprise the man –he wouldn't notice a detour. "What do you usually draw? I didn't know you were allowed hobbies," Tony asked conversationally as he pulled into a diner parking lot.

Steve made a face about the rations but shrugged it off, "Whatever comes to mind, masks I saw, guards I saw, when I go out with people like you I try to remember their faces though I don't always get those right. I draw people I remember, things I remember, events." He paused and wondered why they were no longer moving though figured it was part of the mission.

"Hold that thought, I'll be right back." Tony hopped out of the car, undoubtedly confusing the man in the back seat. He was only faintly aware that he was responsible for Steve's detainment while off Foundation property, but his impression of the man so far was one of cooperation, and not of a hostile inmate, and the responsibility slipped his mind.

The blonde fidgeted a little, very slight and almost unnoticeable but still there. He nodded and tapped his fingers along his knee, his mind racing with what this could possibly be. What he did notice was the smell of food on the breeze as Tony had hopped out the door. His stomach grumbled and his mouth watered at the smell, a soft whine escaping him as he wished he could find the source of the smell. Tony was probably grabbing breakfast; he'd gotten up late after all.

Tony returned in a few short minutes and opened Steve's passenger door. He pulled Steve's blindfold off and held out a brown paper bag for the man, "Two double bacon cheese burgers and a larger fry." Tony smiled broadly. He didn't know why he did it, but it seemed necessary to him to get it. After all, Steve may very well die on this mission.

Those blue eyes were huge when the blindfold came off, the man half expecting to see a rifle next. D-class personnel were supposed to remain blindfolded until they reached the site, they weren't allowed to know where it was, the removal of the blindfold usually meant termination. Steve's heart raced for a moment but Tony's words registered in his head and he shakily took the bag from him. "Thank you," he sat back with the meal and knew he should say more but he was too busy digging in to really say anything else aside from a possible choke as he ate too fast.

* * *

Dr. Banner was waiting at Site-23, standing outside of it with his equipment, ready to hand it over to the man in charge of the action team. He gave Tony a tired smile when he saw him, "Dr. Stark," he reached forward to shake the man's hand.

"Dr. Banner," Tony shook his fellow scientist's hand, "I'm so sorry about the time, I was up late looking over the personnel files and the previous Exploration records. I must've gotten carried away." Tony quickly collected the electronic equipment pieces he'd be carrying, leaving the heavier bags of rations and supplies for the other two personnel.

"It's alright," Bruce smiled at him, "I'm not as difficult to deal with as some." He then moved to Steve as the man removed his blindfold, with permission of course, replacing it with the mask from before. "Mr. Rogers," He reached to shake Steve's then, surprising the larger man but Steve returned it anyway.

"Dr. Banner."

"Right, well now that you're here, your armed escort has been waiting a while." Bruce motioned toward the man known as Bucky Barnes. "Mr. Barnes, your team has arrived."

Bucky pushed himself off the side of his jeep from his relaxed position, "About damn time." He held a toothpick between his lips and shifted it over from one side of his mouth to the other as he spoke. He was a young man of around 25, taller and well built, a good physique for a runner. "Sgt. Bucky Barnes, nice to finally meet you Dr. Stark, Mr. Rogers," Mask or no mask, Bucky had read the objectives, read the name, and he would never mistake those blue eyes. When Bucky moved to shake Steve's hand he exchanged a quick glance with the man, and a hushed 'shh', an action that went unnoticed by the scientists reviewing their equipment and procedures.

Steve's heart pounded as he shook the man's hand, so glad that he'd put the mask back on because the recognition would have been so obvious. He did his best to keep his eyes as neutral as possible though those had always been the most expressive part of him. He couldn't help as they watered slightly; the sight of Bucky Barnes was almost more than he could handle at that moment. "Nice to meet you too." He said in a steady monotone, keeping up with the charade.

Bruce in the meantime handed Tony the things he might need, all the equipment was top of the line and tested so nothing should go wrong, or so that's how they perceived it. "You're fairly late so I apologize, you'll need to head in pretty soon. I hope you've prepared yourself."

"Right, right, absolutely," Tony quickly took stock of the testing equipment. "I trust this all works, it's the best of the best so we shouldn't need to test it. And I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Tony felt a little bad for being late –he had wanted to discuss the previous explorations with Dr. Banner before going in, find out just what was in Exploration-IV and why it cancelled the investigation until now. No point mourning lost time. "Steve! Bucky! Grab these supplies, we're going in."

"Sir, yes sir," Bucky drawled sarcastically. He gave Steve a quick elbow jab to the side before heading over to collect his share of the load.

Steve hefted his portion and followed suit, wondering partially when he should take the mask off. _'Inside I'd bet.'_ He answered his own question, remaining silent in his steps behind Bucky.

Tony checked over the more basic equipment again, he had a 75 watt flood lamp with a 24 hour battery life and extras batteries in one of the bags. He was also given a handheld camcorder fitted with a transmission stream and an audio headset for communication with Dr. Banner in the control room. Bucky was to take point, armed and a good shot. Tony's position was second in line, which allowed him to keep safe and still have a good vantage point to see past Bucky and relay the information to Dr. Banner. Steve was stationed in the back. The task force took their first steps into the stairwell, onto the top platform.

"Shit, this is dark," Bucky commented, trying to peer down the staircase. Only 9 steps down were visible, even with the aid of the flood lamp, and he couldn't see the next platform.

The blonde pulled off his mask and tucked it away in one of the bags, leaning over to peer down. "It really is..."

Bucky spared a glance Steve's way, trying to appear as though this was his first impression of the blonde haired man. It had been years since he'd seen Steve, and his time in prison and with the Foundation had worked wondrous changes in his friend. Bucky only hoped that Steve hadn't changed too much on the inside.

Tony nodded his agreement, a nervous churning in his gut made him feel a little queasy, "Dr. Banner, are the comms working?"

Bruce smiled and in the friendliest tone answered, "Yes they are, Mr. Stark. We had time to double and triple check the equipment this morning, nothing should go wrong with it."

"Good. I have a quick question, how far do you think this will transmit? If we're heading down stairs for ten days straight without a relay, won't we lose contact?" Tony hadn't considered it before now, before staring down into this dark abyss. SCP-087 wasn't even an average stairwell –it was extra dimensional. They were fortunate that their headsets even worked in there at all.

"There's no telling how far the transmission will reach, but you should be prepared in the case of a communications blackout." Banner replied just as calmly, he really was a great person to have on the other line.

"Understood," Tony looked at Steve and Bucky, feeling mildly self conscious and very small for a moment, "Shall we?" The team descended the first flight of stairs -13 steps in total.

"Well _that's_ not foreboding," said Bucky once he reached the landing. "13, and I didn't think SCPs were suspicious."

"They're not," Tony commented absently, "we are." He took a quick scan of the area and relayed what he saw to Dr. Banner over the headset, "It's a semicircular platform. It looks to be made of concrete, with no distinct markings. It matches the descriptions found in the first Exploration file."

"Understood, carry on." Bruce's voice was still clear as a bell.

"It's superstitious." Steve said after the communication was over, "SCPs or people or otherwise, the world you're looking for is superstitious."

Bucky shot Steve a humorous but flat expression, "Thanks for that professor."

Steve returned the look with a wide smile and lifted his eyebrow as if to say 'I win'.


	2. Chapter 2

**Zafona's Notes:**

**Not a lot of interest in this one, eh? Alrighty regardless we're having a lot of fun writing it :)**

* * *

The three of them began their descent down the second stair case when Steve stopped, his ears burning. "Wait," he lifted his hand to his ear and leaned over the stairwell, glancing down into the darkness. "Is that... crying?" He closed his eyes to focus his senses better. "It is. Someone's crying down there."

"Steve, stay put," Tony had the impression that Steve might be the sort of guy to run off on that, the heroic type. "Bruce," Tony went to the comms, "We're hearing voices from further down."

"Could D-09857 please describe the sound." Bruce said evenly.

"Yeah," Steve touched his communications device as he listened, "Sounds like a kid, either a girl or a young boy..." He closed his eyes again, "Pretty sure it's a girl. She's crying, sobbing, and saying something, I can't quite... make it out. Please? There's a please in there. Help... down... down here. Okay it's on repeat."

"That is consistent with the first explorations. How far away do you figure it is?"

"I'd say about 200 meters." Steve said without hesitation, "Maybe 190."

"Thank you, please continue."

Steve looked nervously at the other two, the first real emotion that he'd shown without his mask on, "Tony, I don't have clearance to read what happened on the other explorations, what are we in for?" His tone was steady though he looked anxious, a little scared even. It was weird to think that while looking at such a strong man, apparently the sound of a child begging for help was all that was needed to worry him.

Tony hesitated for a moment –there was a reason why D-class personnel didn't have that sort of clearance, they didn't need to know. Tony thought it over, and Steve was a nice enough guy, and he might die on this mission. "You know it's not my place to disclose this information, and I've had a bad enough start to this entire mission that I don't need the added grief of breaking _every_ rule and regulation," Tony chewed his bottom lip for a moment, still deciding on whether or not he should go through with an explanation.

Steve was patient though his eyes said enough for him; he wanted that information before continuing. Of course he knew that they weren't allowed to tell him, that didn't mean he couldn't ask. Steve had been through a few of these SCP things before and he'd managed to get the info of previous encounters with the SCP-objects just by being himself, just by asking nicely. Obviously he'd asked the right people and he'd gotten lucky. One of these times he'd probably get a hard ass and then he'd probably die. Hell, he was pretty surprised he was still alive as it was but if he could manage to continue the good luck spree then hell, he'd be more than happy to risk asking.

"Alright," Tony double checked to see that his communication headset wasn't on, "There were four exploration missions in total. Usually they only sent one D-class personnel in, with a lamp and few rations, for what would be no longer than 24 hours as an intended stay. The first mission lasted a total of 55 minutes, with D-08432 making it 51 flights of stairs down in total before returning to the top floor. The second exploration lasted approximately one hour and forty-five minutes, with D-09035 making it 89 flights of stairs down in total before returning to the top floor. The third exploration lasted a little over three hours, with D-09884 reaching the 619th landing..." Tony paused, uncertain of whether or not he should reveal anymore.

Bucky furrowed his brow, not missing the obvious hole in the explanation, "...before returning to the top floor, right?" Bucky raised an eyebrow in suspicion, and Tony hadn't even explained the fourth exploration yet.

Tony hesitated again, looking between Steve and Bucky, "No, the video feed cut out and we lost her. There's no data available on what happened in exploration-IV, and all we know is that after that one they closed off access to SCP-087 and went into containment mode, until now." Tony looked between his two accompanying personnel, "We should keep moving."

The blonde closed his eyes and nodded. This was going to be the one that took his life. Luck had run out, apparently. "Alright, thanks for telling us. Let's go."

Bucky frowned and wanted to protest, but this was their mission, and if he was going to get Steve out of here, he couldn't go around attracting attention to his behaviour for disobeying Foundation directives, and so they went.

They descended the first 50 flights of stairs without incident, and Tony made the occasional observation and update with Dr. Banner as they went. "Bucky, if nothing has changed since the previous explorations, the descent from platform 51 will have the first step broken, so watch yourself."

"Thanks for the heads up, doc," Bucky kept an eye out, sticking to the right and avoiding the shattered step. "You weren't kiddin' about that step."

Tony went back to his headset, "Dr. Banner, we've reached the 51st landing; the top step descending is still broken, matching the data from Exploration-II."

"Thank you, Dr. Stark. Please proceed."

"The kid's still crying too, if that helps." Steve spoke into the communications.

"How far away would you say the child is?" Bruce asked calmly, like he'd heard it all before.

"Same... It's like they're running away from us or something."

"Alright, noted. Carry on."

"So," Bucky asked conversationally as they came down upon the 70th landing, "What are the chances that we'll be turning around after coming this far?"

"We have enough provisions for three weeks, and we'll be going straight down for at least seven days straight," Tony remarked, sticking to the mission objectives. "So you'd better get used to the dark."

"Yeah yeah, the dark's never been a problem for me," Bucky replied casually, "it's what's in the dark that you've gotta watch out for." Bucky stopped and turned around to face Tony, rifle levelled at the man's mid-section, "Or who's in the dark, isn't that right Steve?"

Steve smiled and nodded, "Something like that, yeah."

Tony didn't understand it at first, "What's going on here?" He turned around to look at Steve, a daunting thought creeping into his mind that he wasn't safe here.

"Hand the headset to Steve, and shut off the camera," Bucky commanded firmly, tightening his grip in his rifle to drive the point home.

"A goddamn mutiny," Tony muttered –just his luck. "I should've just stayed home. Alright," Tony raised his hand so Bucky could see them, "I'll take the headset off, but I want the camera to stay on. Just because you too are going AWOL doesn't mean that the guys at HQ couldn't make use of the footage." Tony slowly removed his headset and passed it to Steve.

"Destroy it," Bucky instructed, never taking his eyes off of Tony.

Steve looked at the communications for a moment, not sure if he should actually destroy the thing, it might be useful to get information from the other side. And at the same time what good would it be? All they'd get would be Dr. Banner's annoyed voice telling them what to do. He crushed it easily and dropped the pieces to the floor.

"You know, we're only an hour in, they could send someone after us," Tony cautioned, trying to de-escalate the situation, maybe he could convince them to change their minds.

"They could," Bucky agreed, his tone friendly, "But they won't. You know it, I know it. It took them weeks to set up Exploration-V, they're not going to break protocol just to come after the three of us. You're new, he's a D-class personnel, and I'm just one guy: we're all expendable." Bucky looked up the steps passed Tony at Steve, "Long time, Steve. Good to see you in one piece."

"So you do know this guy," Tony muttered, watching the mutiny unfold. His phone being on silent was a failed miracle, he was pretty sure of that now.

Steve moved past Tony then, ignoring the words for a moment before wrapping his friend in a hug, burying his face against Bucky's cheek and neck. "It's good to see you too."

Bucky gave his old friend a firm clap on the back, "I'm going to get you out of this mess, just like I promised I would." Looking back at Tony, Bucky smirked and asked, "What do you think, should we ditch the egg head? He could be useful, he is a specialist."

Steve lifted his head again and looked over at Tony, remembering the few moments they'd been together, how Tony was the least professional person he'd had the pleasure of working with. The way he'd removed the blindfold and had given him food, and constantly checking him out. "I'd say we give him a choice, what would you prefer Tony? I'm not going to hurt you, there's no reason to, and I'm not going to drag you along with us if you don't want to go." He owed the other man a debt; even if it was as small as 'you bought me lunch' he still wanted to repay it somehow. This seemed like a good way to go about it.

Tony lowered one of his raised hands to his brow to wipe away the rapidly beading sweat. This just could not be happening, just how bad was his luck today, seriously. Tony glanced at the stairs behind him; literally nothing was stopping him from running back up them. If he was quick, he'd be back at ground level in about twenty minutes. These two goons would even let him go. Tony looked back at Steve, back at those vivid blue eyes and that handsome face. "I've gotta know, what did you do?"

Steve opened his mouth to answer though his hesitation gave enough time for Bucky to snap.

"What the hell does that matter?" Bucky sounded completely irate, eyes narrow and glaring.

Tony flinched at the shout, but remained stationed in place. Whatever it was, Bucky may very well have been a part of it. Whether Steve was a murderer or not didn't change the fact that Tony had a choice to make, or more accurately, a risk to take. He could either go with these two reckless long-lost-friends into the depths of an unknown abyss, or head back up those stairs alone, without the flashlight that they would inevitably take from him, and risk running into specimen SCP-087-1 on his way up to being fired. Tony had left the existence of scp-087-1 out of his explanation of the previous explorations to keep the other two calm, but Bucky Barnes wasn't armed to the teeth for nothing. They were long past floor 51, the first known encounter location. Going up alone, unarmed, in the dark was not safe.

"I-I'll go with you," Tony stammered, looking between Bucky and Steve and their confused expressions, "but the camera stays on. I may not be able to talk to Dr. Banner, but he might still be able to use this." Tony had known from the start that this mission was going to be dangerous, had known that at least one person died in this stairwell, and probably more. "So we'll just stick together, and keep going down. Hopefully this staircase leads us somewhere before our rations run out in three weeks."

Bucky looked sceptical, and exchanged another glance with Steve, "You sure about this guy? I could shoot him right here."

"I'm sure, Bucky." Steve answered, waving his friend's weapon away and turning to look at Tony, giving the man a strong nod. "Alright, camera stays on, no problem with that." Blue eyes turned back toward his friend and that charming smile spread his lips again, "It's his first day, man. Give him a break."

Bucky laughed, "Some first day." He clapped Steve on the shoulder, "If you had his kind of luck on your first day, you'd probably be dead a dozen times over." Bucky smiled at Steve again, relieved that his old friend wasn't amongst the lost.

"More than that, I think." The blonde motioned down the stairwell, "Come on, we've got shit to do." He moved for Tony to pass him by, eyes lingering on the man's slighter frame.

Tony sighed in relief, he was alive, and the mission –however botched it may seem, was still on. The video camera was still sending live feed to Dr. Banner at HQ, and he'd be able to use whatever they found for further research. Since his two body guards just went AWOL rather than suffering at the hands of unknown specimens, Tony suspected that there would be an Exploration-VI in the future. It wasn't his intention to be a martyr for science; it was just a convenient consequence. Tony nodded to Steve's directive, moving past the much larger man without the chance of luck to miss his appraising gaze. It sent shivers down Tony's spine, and the scientist couldn't help but wonder if his malingering thoughts were any less unprofessional now that Steve wasn't under his supervision.

"Just so you know," Steve said softly as Tony stepped beside him on the narrow staircase, leaning forward so his lips were fairly close to the other man's ear, "I never intended to hurt you or drag you into this. I didn't know we'd even have an armed guard, let alone it be Bucky." His eyes were sincere if Tony bothered to look into them, something about this man was just completely confusing but trustworthy at the same time. To see him, to talk to him, you'd think he was heroic, that he'd leap down the stairs after the crying child and he was just about ready to do so. He spoke kindly, respectfully, wary of the words he chose to make sure that he didn't give anything away, if he said too much he could be terminated, but he didn't want to sound uncooperative either. At the same time, he was a D-class personnel, a man sentenced to life imprisonment and he was mixed up with the SCP Foundation, clearly after doing a few of their missions his deal still hadn't been fulfilled. One could only ask themselves, who the hell was Steve Rogers?

Tony was hyperaware of Steve's lips so near his ear, could feel the other man's breath on his skin, and tried to hide the shiver of excitement that ran down his spine. Steve's words didn't match the reactions he was eliciting from Tony, and Tony couldn't help but wonder what Steve's purpose was. It wasn't an apology; it was just a very neutral information. Tony looked into Steve's eyes, wondering if the man felt any guilt at all, wondered if given the circumstances he even should. "Just don't let me die."

Steve smiled and dared to nuzzle the other man's face, "I'll do everything I can to make sure you don't." He whispered before leaning back and prodding Tony down.

Tony's breath hitched and he swallowed hard, slow to regain composure. It wasn't fear that had his heart thundering away in his chest, not by a long shot. Tony took to the unspoken directive, following Bucky down, and all the while he couldn't help the rabbit trails his mind wandered down about the exciting impossibilities that existed between himself and his guard-turned-captor.

The hours passed without incident, and the crying continued without ever getting closer to its source. The longer they were down there, the more anxious Tony became. It had never taken this long for 087-1 to show its face. Was it waiting for something? Was it killed in Exploration-IV? Tony fidgeted relentlessly with the nylon tether strap of the camcorder, walking uncomfortably close to Steve.

The larger man, still taking up the rear, couldn't help but notice Tony's slower pace, and the slower Steve was to keep his distance Tony slowed even more. The D-class male smiled and shook his head, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder, "Hey, it's alright." He had leaned in closer to the other man's ear again, inhaling a little deeper to catch Tony's scent, a mix of cologne and aftershave that Steve found to be a fairly handsome smell. "Bucky's got the front; if anything pops up he'll shoot it. If something is behind us then it'll pick me off first, I'll make plenty of noise so you'll have a shot of getting down or behind Bucky before you're taken down with me. Either way, you're safe."

"Yeah," Tony agreed nervously, "safe."

Steve paused for a moment then furrowed his brow, "IS there anything down here that you know about, Tony?" His tone was calm, his hand still touching Tony's shoulder, "I won't be mad you didn't say anything sooner, I promise. Do you know what's crying down there?"

Tony flinched. It wasn't an unfair assessment to say that he was afraid of Steve and Bucky, but that wasn't what was bothering him, and he knew that he'd given enough away for Steve to know. "I haven't told you everything," Tony confirmed cautiously.

Bucky reeled around, "You've been hiding something from us?!" He was on the edge of control, evidently not at all pleased that Steve had allowed the tag along, although he respected his friend's decision.

"Bucky, cool it." Steve ordered, a serious look on his face. "Freaking him out and hurting him won't get us the information we need. In fact getting upset isn't going to help the situation at all so try to calm down."

Bucky eyed Steve warily, though briefly, before taking a steadying breath and a slightly more relaxed stance. "Alright, you've got a point. Panicking never helped anyone." Bucky looked at Steve almost guiltily as he admitted it, but nothing more was said.

Tony unconsciously inched closer to Steve for protection, "I don't know who or what is crying down there, but there were reports about specimen SCP-087-1."

"Alright, and what's that?"

Tony eyed the other man's rifle warily, and turned his attention toward Steve instead, "087-1 appeared in every Exploration mission. It has been described only as a humanoid face, with no pupils or nostrils. The first exploration made it to the 50th landing, where the first encounter occurred. D-08432 immediately turned back after the encounter. He passed out at the top of the stairwell, but recovered. In the second exploration, D-09035 encountered 087-1 at the 89th floor. We have reason to believe that the specimen gave pursuit as D-09035 retreated. Upon D-09035's return he lapsed into a coma," Tony paused and looked between Steve and Bucky, "he still hasn't recovered."

Steve was looking at him firmly, blue eyes giving nothing of his emotion away as he watched Tony's expression for any possible lies. What good would it be to deceive the two men accompanying him? Well for starters those two men had gone AWOL and one was definitely willing to shoot. Steve wouldn't have blamed Tony for keeping the information to himself, for lying to them; because honestly he'd never want to help the assholes who screwed up his first mission either. He understood why Tony did it, but that didn't mean he wanted Tony to know that.

Bucky took a calming breath, "Ok," he said curtly, "and what about Exploration-III? It seems like all of them ended because of this 087-1 thing."

"They did," Tony agreed, "As I said earlier, in Exploration-III D-09884 was lost. She made it to the 619th landing, but many of the flights of stairs she'd taken were in a panicked flight. She was chased by 087-1. All of the video we have for this specimen indicates that it is mobile, and consciously aware of being observed. It's still not known whether D-09035's coma was induced by the specimen or due to the physical exertion and adrenaline rush of taking 90 flights of stairs in thirty minutes while being chased by an extra-dimensional creature." Tony had tried to keep his tone as even as possible, to keep his explanation as formal as he could, to avoid inciting panic in himself. He thought that maybe if he didn't admit it aloud, he could avoid confrontation. Now they all knew, and somehow that made everything that much more real.

Steve didn't miss the look of fear swelling in those big brown eyes, whatever that 087-1 creature was, it was a frightening thing. "No one's been attacked outright," he muttered, "At least not from what's been recorded. It's all speculation and no real answers. I say let's assume that the creature didn't cause the coma because that'll just have us antsy and more scared of it, though taking it lightly isn't a good option either."

Tony had to take a moment and admire Steve's way of thinking. For Tony, it had always been observation and reports, hard facts –something substantial was needed to act or even pretend to know something. But not for Steve; for Steve it seemed to be all about self empowerment. He couldn't control his circumstances or his company, but he could control his mindset. Tony noticed that the man's assumptions weren't based on logic whatsoever, but on necessity for the sake of survival.

"So what," Bucky retorted hotly, "We're in this spooky-ass stairwell with a murderous alien? That's just great." Bucky tossed his bags to the floor on the landing. "I say we take a break, I could use a snack anyway."

"Well you are armed for a reason," Tony shot back and took a seat on the bottom step of the previous staircase, "Something interesting did happen on the third mission." Tony rummaged through his bag and retrieved a nutrient bar and bottle of water while he explained the previous mission. "When D-09884 was running down, and 087-1 closed in, it was interesting to note that the crying actually got louder. Now I'm not sure if the crying is related to 087-1, or if the source is somewhere near the 650th floor. Also, on the 89th landing that we passed a little way back, there's a gouge in the wall as smooth as glass."

Bucky furrowed his brow in thought, "Isn't that the second encounter site?"

The blonde silently agreed with his friend, a crease in his brow showing the same puzzled emotion. He didn't like the idea that the crying got louder, it had been the exact same all the way down until the 650th floor? It didn't make any sense, though these SCP objects rarely did. He could only assume it was coming from SCP 087-1 and that thought frightened him more than he cared to admit. It was a way of luring the compassionate hearts, to hear a small child crying for those people? It'd be enough incentive to jump into the world's worst hellholes. This thing wasn't a friendly, that much he was certain of.

"It is," Tony confirmed. "The broken step in the 51st landing also only appeared in the second exploration, after 087-1 was encountered there. Nothing official was ever announced, but I think that this thing is very powerful."

"So wait," Steve narrowed his eyes in thought, "There's some kind of physical damage to where the D class personnel had been standing? This thing _is_ attacking but hasn't ever hit its mark? That's unlikely... if it can follow someone as easily as it has then it could kill whenever it wanted." _'What the hell is this thing after?'_ He thought dismally, _'Though how often are these things really after anything?'_

"Well, isn't that just peachy?" Bucky frowned and kicked the concrete wall of the stairwell, knocking loose a plume of dust. "Not to mention that whatever this thing is, it's in its home territory. It can actually _see_ down here. We're at a serious disadvantage."

Steve glanced at his friend, his expression not terribly readable in the way of what he was feeling but it was firm all the same. "At this point it doesn't matter what we don't know because none of that information's about to pop up and help us out. What we _do_ know is that we're going to run into this thing at one point or another and we need to be ready." The blonde ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, not liking the thought that some disembodied face was following him. It gave him a serious itch to turn around and look for it, to quash the fear that it was right behind him. But what if _was_ right there? Would he panic? Would he scream? He had no idea how he'd react to this one. He'd been part of several SCP object testing and research sessions and he rarely freaked out like that. Maybe it was the thought that he wasn't in an enclosed space that had a definite end to it, there was no real escape unless he bolted up the flights they'd already descended. And there was no way he could actually accomplish that, his cardio was good, not _that_ good.

The group fell into a mutual silence as they took their break, ate, and rehydrated. Tony nervously looked back up the stairs with the floodlight every five minutes or so, evidently worried that they'd made it too far without an encounter of any kind.

"Well, that's enough sitting around," Bucky stood and clapped the dust off his pants. "This stairwell's going to lead us somewhere, and that's all we really need to know. Whatever this 087-1 thing is, if it shows, I'll shoot it dead."

"How heroic," Tony retorted flatly.

"Watch it, doc," Bucky warned, and readied his rifle for descent.

The 200 flights that followed were uneventful, and just as soon as Tony's hopes were up that they might remain that way, Bucky froze on the staircase below him.

"What is it?"

"Bucky?" Steve asked hesitantly, his limbs tensing involuntarily.

"Shh!" Bucky snapped back, his gaze clearly focused ahead of him. Tony shone the floodlight past Bucky down the stairs and saw it there. Specimen 087-1, a humanoid face with little in the way of facial features, no nostrils and no pupils, and grey in colour. Its gaze, if it could even be ascertained, seemed solely focused on Tony.

Steve felt his heart jump to his throat but he didn't make a move to run. He'd been face to face with dangerous SCP objects before, he'd felt the depths of his own fear before, he'd been seconds, and centimetres away from his final breath in some of the encounters but always managed a way out. He'd gotten very lucky in the past and he couldn't help but wonder if this was fate's way of catching up to him.

"I'm going to shoot it," Bucky informed the other two in a low whisper.

"No!" Tony protested quickly, "That may have been what happened in Exploration-IV. Everyone panics when faced with this thing, but I have no idea what it even does."

"Damn your science! I'm shooting!"

"No, Bucky!" Steve stepped down and caught his friend's arm before it could ready the rifle, his body pressed against Tony's on the narrow stairwell and the scientist could feel every slight tremor in the criminal's muscles. "He's right, don't attack it." He felt his arm tremble slightly and let go to not alert Bucky to his fear, "We'll just be repeating every other exploration and none of those ended well."

Bucky growled in frustration, but again relented to Steve's better judgement, "He's the one who said I was armed for a reason." Bucky muttered angrily, but left it at that.

Tony suddenly remembered a detail of the reports he'd previously overlooked, "It's not looking at me, it's looking at the camera."

"What?" Bucky looked back at Tony, taking his eyes off of 087-1 for the first time since it's appearance. "Why the camera?"

"I don't know, but every time it closed in, it seemed to watch the camera," Tony slowly removed the camcorder strap from around his neck and placed the device on the step beside him against the wall. "Let's leave it, and see if we can walk past it."

"Are you insane?" Bucky looked past Tony, "Steve, he's insane. Can I shoot it now?"

Steve watched Tony carefully and swallowed down the panic he was feeling, that was as good a plan as any, as far as he was concerned. "Bucky, he knows the reports, he knows more about this than either of us do, just let him... Let's try it." He took a stronger breath and readied himself, _'This might be the moment I die, it might not. Regardless, I have nothing to be afraid of. I've long accepted this.'_ He tried to tell himself this, he always did every time he faced a life threatening situation, though it never changed his initial reaction. He didn't want to die. He was afraid of it, as much as he trusted his religion and held his faith he couldn't help the fear that gripped him each time. And yet, that same fear was something that strengthened him as much as it weakened him. He wanted to live and would do everything in his power to make sure he did.

"I'll go first." Steve said boldly, "If something happens then run, if it doesn't I want Bucky to take the rear." He was already marching forward as he spoke, eyes fixed on the face ahead of them. He didn't know if there was a body attached or if it was just a head, if he'd run into resistance, if he'd die horribly, he had no clue. But he went anyway.

Bucky nodded his understanding and didn't say another word in protest. He needed to have a word with Steve –a few words, the foremost of which was why the hell he'd put his best friend in the rear _knowing_ that 087-1 was right behind them in order to protect some egghead. But those words could wait, because now wasn't the time to fight against Steve, not in the face of this... giant face.

Steve stepped up to the thing that didn't seem to be looking at him though he knew it was aware he was there, right next to it. He continued down past the creature, every second he spent near it making his heart race a little faster, his legs a little less willing to be calm. He stepped onto the next platform and tried to calm himself, glancing back up at his teammates, who he'd call teammates at this point and smiled a little, "I think he's stuck. Come on."

"I think you're right," Tony was quick to fall in step behind Steve, relieved to find that 087-1's focus remained on the camera lens left on the step rather than on him. Tony was sure that nothing he'd ever experienced had compared to the fear that raced through his veins in those short moments, and he dreaded the notion that something might again in the near future.

Bucky hugged the opposite wall, keeping his eyes trained on the creature floating above the stairs just inches away. He found it ironic that the scientific pursuits, researching with a camera, were the cause of so many deaths. Once Bucky slinked passed he whispered to the others, "I say we hurry the fuck up."

Tony for once was in agreement with the trigger happy gunman, and gladly followed his lead past Steve down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Bucky had made a point not to run so as to prevent attracting the specimen's attention unnecessarily, but otherwise kept a quick and steady pace as he led the other two deeper into the stairwell.

Tony glanced over his shoulder to check that Steve was still there, and that 087-1 was not. Tony whispered back to Steve, "Is it following us?"

Steve gave a reassuring smile, his tough outward appearance still standing fairly strong. He was as surprised as the others that they'd just managed to walk past the thing but he wasn't going to complain. "Nope," he replied after glancing over his shoulder, something he'd been doing a lot of since they left 087-1 behind.

Tony sighed in relief, giving Steve a grateful smile. "That's at least something good."

Bucky whispered back to the both of them, "I want to put some distance between us and it before we stop again, let's keep going and keep quiet, alright?"

They agreed and continued on in silence, the only noises to be heard were the cries for help of the unseen child, still no more and no less than 200 metres away. Hours passed in silence without incident before Bucky relented and stopped the party. "Anyone care to explain what the hell that was all about?" It was evident his question was directed at Tony despite its open invitation.

Steve also glanced down at the scientist with interest, not missing the tone in his friend's voice. He knew when things were directed his way, there was usually 'Steve' attached to the statement somewhere.

"I already explained what that was, it was scp-"

"Not what I meant," Bucky interjected, "I mean why did it go after a camera and not us?"

Tony paused to think about that for a moment, "It could be that it didn't see us."

Bucky scoffed, "That's a ridiculous theory. Next."

"No really, hear me out. 087-1 has no pupils, and in previous explorations seemed to be transfixed by the lens of the camera. There's no naturally occurring light in here, so it's not unreasonable to think that oh-eight-seven-one is blind."

"Well he does have a point," Steve agreed, "It doesn't need eyes because usually it's so dark it can't see anyway. So with that in mind, it hears things, right? Wouldn't it have heard us? Or maybe we aren't making interesting enough noises. But it was staring at the camera so it could still see..."

"Alright, then how did it 'see' us if it can't actually see?" Bucky pushed the exposition for the fic readers.

"Electromagnetic wavelengths," Tony concluded after a short moment of mulling it over. He looked at the blank expressions of his two comrades and realized that a more in-depth explanation was required. Tony sighed, "It doesn't 'see' and it has no ears or mouth, so we can logically assume that it's not a form of sonar. 087-1 was preoccupied with the camera because it runs on electricity, and the camcorder was transmitting. It's not impossible that 087-1 can see these frequencies, or even trace them."

"Trumps my theory of hearing for obvious reasons." Steve mused with a humoured smile.

Bucky looked puzzled for a moment, "Alright, so how does it see us?"

"How did you even graduate?" Tony snapped without thinking, frustrated by Bucky's general lack of basic information. Or at least information that was basic for Tony. "People run on electrical signals, every neuron firing in your brain, down your spinal column, and to the tip of every finger. All communications of the nervous system –central, somatic, and autonomous –are dictated by electrical signals. I think that's how 087-1 is aware of us."

"Well..." Steve shrugged and glanced at his friend before looking back at Tony, "Not everyone has the luxury of finishing school, some of us needed to work to live. But I think I get what you're saying." Part of him wanted to say 'hey, don't call us stupid' but in comparison to Tony's intellect, he might as well be a monkey with cymbals.

Tony shut his big stupid mouth before he engaged the man in an argument. _Work to live huh? How's that working out for you on tax payers' dollars?_ _People preoccupied with working and living don't typically end up in jail_...No, that would not end well, not at all.

"Well it's distracted now at least," The blonde smiled and spared a look up the stairwell, "We'll be fine for a little while longer. Wanna see if this bad boy has a bottom?"

Bucky grinned, "That's the kind of bad idea I missed doing with you."


	3. Chapter 3

When the research team had dropped their audio feed Bruce knew something was up, especially when he realized that they'd left the communications behind entirely. They had been expecting the comms to cut out at some point but not only a few flights in. It was nearly a failed mission except the team continued downward anyway. He sat agitated in his seat watching the camera feed with interest, to see what they'd do, how far they'd go. At least they continued filming, that much he was relieved with. At least they hadn't lost three people with nothing to show for it.

And then the video camera was left face to face with SCP-087-1. Bruce leaned forward and examined the face, taking notes on the creature's patterns and general habits. It was strange and very creepy, as if the thing was staring at him. He felt unnerved by it but was a master of keeping his composure and remaining unfazed by it all. He'd been dealing with this damn thing too long to e spooked by the thing on the other side of the camera lens. Of course, he was well aware that the team had abandoned their video camera. It was a loss, for sure but he was glad to get that moment to study 087-1 so closely.

If Tony lived through his first expedition, by some miracle, Bruce would have to clap him on the shoulder and buy him a drink. He'd done better than expected.

* * *

Bucky stopped short before the next landing, which caused Tony to stop just as abruptly to prevent himself from walking in to the man. "Oh god," Bucky murmured, and raised a hand to his face to cover his nose and mouth. "Guys, I think I found Exploration-IV."

"What do you mean?" Steve leaned over to see with the aid of the flood lamp, not having the same vantage point as his comrades, being in the very back and all. He cringed and looked away for a moment when he saw it, the rotten and rotting remains of the most recent exploration. "Oh dear god..." he muttered aloud, swallowing thickly, horrifed.

Bucky stepped down onto the landing, sticking to the wall of the stairwell to avoid the bodies. There were at least two that he could make out, just a tangle of half decayed limbs in a heap on the landing. "Stark, you're a doctor right? What's the cause of death on these guys?"

Tony visibly paled at the sight, and balked further at Bucky's suggestion. "I have a PhD in physics! I am a doctor, but that doesn't mean medical."

"But at least you graduated," Bucky shot back, a stab at Tony's earlier insult. "Check the bodies."

Steve would have smirked at that comment if it hadn't been for the fact that he was appalled at the smell and state of the corpses. Of course, who in the world could clean them up down here? What else could he expect when he heard people had died somewhere in the stairwell? His eyes shifted toward Tony too, figuring the man needed to atone for that smartass remark about education some way or another.

Tony looked to Steve almost pleadingly before he approached the bodies. "With no natural occurring bacteria or scavengers," Tony swallowed past the nervous lump in his throat, "it appears as though decay has slowed significantly. Exploration-IV was lost almost two years ago."

The larger man folded his arms over his chest and did his best not to be fazed by the big brown eyed puppy dog look he'd just gotten. _'What the hell is wrong with me?'_ He thought as he looked down at the remains. As much as he was still thinking that Tony needed to be more careful about what he said, assuming that everyone had an equal chance at education and life, he still felt bad for making the guy do that on his first day. This had been a terrible first day.

Tony looked to Steve again, and he sorely wished he hadn't gotten himself mixed up in all of this. He lifted his foot tentatively, and nudged the bodies in an attempt to uncoil them from one another. The smell that erupted from the disturbed mass stung at his nose, and Tony nearly threw up on the spot. He spun around quickly and hunched over the step to the next descending flight, clutching his stomach in attempts to stave off retching.

Steve cringed again, feeling even worse for Tony before the smell hit him too. "Oh! God that is _awful_!" he exclaimed, joining Tony at the edge of the stairwell and leaning against the railing. Simply because he'd done time in the past didn't mean that he didn't react to strong, gory smells. And it also didn't mean that he was immune to looking at death, it was still as shocking a thing to see for him as anyone else. Even worse to smell it.

"Is that your professional opinion?" Bucky remarked sarcastically.

Steve straightened up after a moment of regaining control over his abdomen and gag reflexes. He tried to smile at Bucky though he wasn't finding it terribly appropriate in their situation. Then again, nothing was appropriate in their situation so why not? "All of his knowledge of physics went into that one, Bucky. You should be satisfied." Steve wasn't really poking fun at either one of them, just generally offering his amused thoughts on the subject. It was silly to get someone with a Ph.D. in physics to do a medical examination and expect something more than 'it looks like they're dead'.

"I'm ok," Tony choked from the stairs, not as fast as Steve in recovering. He stood up and brushed the back of his hand across his lips to wipe away any stray saliva from spitting over the edge step. Tony turned back to the bodies and covered his nose and mouth with his shirt. "Bucky, I want you to look through the bodies, see if they still have their camera. If it's not broken I can put one of the replacement batteries in it."

"It's a freaking SCP magnet, why would I do that?" Bucky shot back, honestly more concerned with looting corpses than carrying the camera, but it still seemed like a good point to him.

"It's not a magnet, it's a distraction. If 087-1 comes after us again, because of our weak-but-still-present electromagnetic readings, I'd like to be able to ditch it by planting another camera." Tony glared at Bucky defiantly, having had quite enough of the other man's insistence on running the expedition. Sure, it was cancelled, and sure he was the one to execute the mutiny, but they were kind of all in it together. Kind of. "Besides, I'm sure Dr. Banner would like to know what's going on."

"I couldn't give a shit about Dr. Banner," Bucky grumbled. He knew that Tony had a good point about the distraction of 087-1. He'd lost this argument. Bucky prodded the bodies apart with his rifle and shoved the older male off the younger with his boot. "God, this is awful," Bucky waved a hand in front of his face to try and clear away the fumes. "Do bodies usually ooze?"

Tony could feel his stomach lurch at the combination of Bucky's commentary and the smell. "Just... get the camera."

Steve closed his eyes and turned his head away, not looking at the mess his friend had to dig through, not wanting to connect the smell and sight. It was just like someone had left something in the fridge too long. That's all it was. Just had to convince himself of that and he'd be fine. At least there was no sunlight down here to help it fester and smell worse.

"You got it, doc." It didn't take Bucky long to lift the camera from the smaller male. It seemed to be intact, no signs of external damage. The battery was old, and Tony was grateful that the model type was compatible with their extras. "We're done here," Bucky announced, "Let's go."

* * *

As they continued down the stairs, Tony toyed around with the video recorder. He had it transmitting again, and used it to survey the area. "I don't know if the mic is working on the camera, but here goes nothing. It's been several hours since our descent into SCP-087. This is Dr. Tony Stark, D-class personnel 09857 Steve Rogers and armed security officer Bucky Barnes are still present with me. The amount of time that has elapsed since losing the feed from our first video camera and acquiring this one is indiscernible, but my estimate would be approximately three hours. We are long past the 650th landing that was recorded in Exploration-III and haven't come any closer to the cries of the child still echoing 200 meters down. We have found what I can only assume were the remains of the personnel on Exploration-III in the stair well, and recovered their camera."

"He can't hear you," Steve looked at Tony, "And saying all those things doesn't matter unless they find that camera or we bring it back to them. I doubt they're still connected to it after the few years it was left down here." His words weren't snippy though they had a vague hint of annoyance. He wasn't sure why but watching Tony talk into a camera that way, like they were still completely on track with the mission they'd been given, it bothered him. There was no reason to record all of it, or any of it. "You're going to be leaving that here anyway for SCP 087-1, aren't you?" Steve never claimed to be a master of technology but he figured what he knew made sense.

"You don't know that he can't hear us," Tony replied, and if he noticed Steve's annoyance he didn't show it. "The camcorder isn't recording directly to memory card; it's transmitting to an HDVR in HQ. As long as IT hasn't gone through and relabelled the IP addresses and storage files, they should be receiving it." Tony looked the camera over again, he was fairly certain that it was recording and transmitting, the device's setting indicated nothing to the contrary. "Of course you're right, if SCP-087-1 comes after us again, I'll ditch it like the last one."

That was enough to shut the blonde up. Steve wasn't always right, especially when it came to technology. On the other end, in the lab where Dr. Banner was situated, someone informed him that the camera from Exploration IV was active again, he was tuned in and they were recording. Though he couldn't respond to Tony, since there was no communication set up through the camera, he could still get the information. Again thinking he needed to buy Tony a drink or something. But the exploration team couldn't possibly know that Bruce could see them again.

After what felt like another few hours of descending the stairwell Steve covered his mouth in a yawn, making a point of exaggerating it. "Not sure about you two but I'm getting pretty tired." He was probably the least likely person to say it but Steve was fairly accustomed to going to bed at a certain time and waking up at another. He'd denied his body the usual pattern for quite a while already but his brain was telling him it was time to shut off for a little while. "Can we sleep for a little bit?"

Bucky paused, feeling the pull of his heavy eye lids, "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll take first watch, you two get some rest." Bucky levelled a look at Steve, daring the taller man to argue with him.

A smile spread Steve's lips and he raised his hands in surrender, not intending to fight that statement. He was the one who was tired, after all, why would he take first watch? It was silly.

"No argument here," Tony replied quickly. "Steve, the bags you and Bucky are carrying have the sleeping bags and food. Can you pass me my bag?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Stark." Steve lifted the bags from his back and put them down, separating Tony's and tossing it over.

Tony hadn't paid attention to it before, but it bothered him now. "You could just call me Tony," he offered to Steve. Even if the man declined the offer, his titling was still wrong –it should be 'Dr' not 'Mr.' "Thanks," Tony rolled out the bag on the landing and spared an uneasy glance back up the last flight of stairs they'd descended, and down the following one. He wasn't sure how much sleep he'd get in this stairwell. He was scared, he'd admit that outright. Tony looked back to Steve, "There's uh, not a lot of room on these landings. Do you think we should try and conserve space? You know, in case Bucky needs to run past us to the other stairs." Tony was mentally kicking himself for his lame-ass attempt at sleeping with the buff convict. What the heck, brain? What the heck.

Steve's gaze was far from subtle as he looked Tony over, not missing the inclination in Tony's words and the way the scientist had been eyeing him. "He'd step on us if he needed to," he muttered, it sounded like a no, at least until he stepped closer and let a hand wander to Tony's lower back. Steve leaned forward to Tony's ear, whispering with his lips close enough to brush the burning skin there. "But I'll sleep close to you," His touch trailed down and copped a feel for the subtle swell of the other man's rear. Steve wouldn't normally count himself among the sexual men but that was before prison and before the SCP Foundation. Since then he hadn't had anyone's hands on him in that way, no one's but his own and he was burning for a little more than that.

Tony's face flushed hotly from the very wanted attention, and an excited chill skittered down his spine. Tony released a shuddered breath that he was only partially aware he was holding, and leaned into the warmth of the other man. "Thank you," he whispered back, his pupils were blown wide as his gaze locked with Steve's again momentarily. There was a time and a place for everything, and this was definitely not it, but that seemed to matter less to Tony than it should have.

"You're welcome, Tony." Steve whispered back, making sure to use the scientist's name instead. His hands didn't let up for a moment, still taking in the feeling of another body next to him. It'd been too long and quite frankly he didn't want Tony to leave, wanted to continue touching and smelling the other man, to know that he was allowed to, that he could do this. His heart pounded strangely but he ignored it. He'd missed sensual human contact to the point that even this felt incredibly intimate to him. Of course, the reputation he had in Tony's eyes would probably equate him to a sex offender for being so touchy feely, but Steve didn't care. He was enjoying himself.

Getting comfortable for Steve was fairly easy, he'd laid down and slid an arm under Tony to keep him close, the other hand subtly and quietly stroking Tony's side, from his shoulder down to his hip and along his thigh before trailing back up. His eyes were closed as he enjoyed the feeling of someone sleeping so close to him, a soft smile on his lips and a light hum in his throat. Their legs were intertwined, each with one leg between the other man's, it was a dangerously close position.

Dangerously close, but wonderfully exhilarating. Tony couldn't remember the last time he felt so comfortable, and he hadn't imagined that it would have been in a supernatural concrete stairwell entwined with a convict. Steve didn't know him, and Tony wasn't sure if the other man cared to know him. This was something purely physical, something so much more base than relationships and their complexities. Tony's eyes drifted shut, his mind blissfully blank as he enjoyed the sensual experience –with less than subtle underpinning intentions.

Blue eyes opened tiredly and took in the sight, Tony's handsome face so close to his own, Tony's breathing so hot and shaky. It was adorable; this man was gorgeous and adorable. Steve smiled a little wider and tilted his head just enough to press his lips to Tony's, tasting them gently before prodding his tongue inside, his legs shifting with Tony's and pressing his knee between the genius' thighs and nudging insistently at his groin. Steve's tongue was persistent and dominating, plundering the other man's mouth and enjoying every second of it.

Tony's breath hitched with surprise and he passed a needy mewl from his lips to Steve's as the other man prodded at him. Tony shifted his hips down, earning himself more contact, more friction. He shuddered in Steve's arms, his eyes fluttering shut once more as he gave in to Steve's powerful kisses. Tony could feel his heart thundering in his chest, he heard the pounding of his racing blood in his ears. He reached out to his side with a blind hand, missing twice before finding the camera and aiming it away from the two of them on the floor.

Bucky shifted his weight from his right leg to his left, trying to pretend that he didn't notice the soon to be raunchy porno behind him. "Seriously?" He muttered to himself. If Steve wanted release, he damn well deserved it after serving time; especially when he served that time alone when Bucky should've been there with him. Not to mention it might make controlling the arrogant doctor more complacent. '_Talk about getting caught with your pants down_,' Bucky thought blandly. If 087-1 came back, they'd be in a heap of trouble.

Steve moved to Tony's neck, kissing and licking at the salty flesh, biting lightly and over all taking in the taste of him. It wasn't rough; it was far from what one might expect of a criminal. Steve's touches were just as sweet as they were sexual; he'd been without another body for so long, someone else to just give him the most basic of human needs. He moaned when Tony's hands trailed down his sides, feeling the muscle there, enjoying the firmness beneath soft skin.

The familiar heat in his groin was the first thing he noticed aside from the feeling of skin on his own. Steve let his baser instincts take over, leaning back a little hesitantly, he'd wanted to stay and continue ravishing Tony with kisses and to keep tasting him, but something a lot stronger called him away. Steve undid his pants quickly and moved to completely remove Tony's. The scientist moaned weakly as those rough hands robbed him of his clothing, leaving his backside cold against the concrete landing. Steve paused for a moment to lick his fingers and coat them in saliva, the image of that mouth wrapped around anything was enough to drive Tony a little wild.

The first finger was a surprise, they were moving quickly but clearly Steve didn't have the patience to wait for this, he wanted it, needed it, and he was going to take it. "Oh god!" Tony exclaimed, his back arching. He couldn't see the size of Steve's cock but he figured, judging by how big the rest of him was, it was going to be a tight fit.

Steve continued to swirl his finger around, wriggling it and widening Tony's hole, in the meantime he took a firm grasp of the swollen member lying heavily on the scientist's stomach. Steve thought about speaking for a moment but decided not to, he'd been trained to stay silent most of the time and that's just what he ended up doing. He wanted to say 'you're gorgeous', he wanted to get Tony begging and screaming his name. He wanted to ask Tony to touch him more, to kiss him and give him something he needed. But he'd been trained not to, so he didn't.

A second finger inserted had Tony thrusting up into Steve's hand, mewling and whimpering needily, the scientist's hands gripping the hard muscle of Steve's arm and digging fingernails in. Steve glanced at Tony for a moment, those brown eyes squeezed closed and mouth open in not so silent gasps and pleadings. A flutter in Steve's chest frightened him a little, he was more than a little invested, he realized. He'd never been the type to just randomly have sex with someone, but he thought that after so long without it he might be now. He was wrong. His cheeks were red as he realized what he was doing but that little moment of shyness vanished fairly quickly. Tony cried out loudly when Steve scissored his fingers, his hand still pumping Tony's cock with a simple rhythm.

A third finger pushed inside and opened Tony all the wider, the scientist writhing beneath Steve's touch and feeling like he was going to go insane from all of the stimulation he was getting. The fact that they were in an stairwell and in the creepiest situation they'd ever been in was lost on them, Tony was far too caught up in the feeling and Steve really didn't care where he was as long as he could have this contact.

Tony was ready, Steve could feel it in the thrust of his hips, the way his body pressed down on the fingers inside him, harder, faster, starting to ask for more in the sweetest voice. "Steve..." Tony gasped softly, straining to push down on the other man's inserted fingers, "Deeper, I need it deeper."

Steve leaned up and kissed Tony again, biting at his lip and dragging his teeth along the soft flesh as he positioned himself above Tony properly. The scientist was mostly naked; his entire lower half was without clothing, shirt peeled up to around his neck, which was starkly different from Steve who had only pulled his pants down. Regardless, the firm prodding of Steve's dick against Tony's stretched entrance wouldn't be denied. Steve slicked his hands and added the extra lubricating saliva to himself before pushing inside. The first few inches were a little rough but the deeper he got the more Tony's body opened up to him, relaxed for him to push all the way to the hilt.

The first real sound Steve made was a long and satisfied moan as he adjusted himself, making sure they were both used to it before he started anything. He didn't need to thrust just yet, didn't need to move at all for it to feel like heaven, Tony's muscles relaxing and tensing, flexing all around his cock was the most amazing thing he'd felt in years. "Tony" he whispered as his breathing grew a little more unsteady.

"Fuck you're huge." Tony gasped and pressed his thighs against Steve's sides, legs crossing behind him. "Oh _fuck_"

Steve laughed softly and pulled most of the way out, lingering there for a moment before snapping his hips forward, tearing a sharp cry from the genius pressed below his weight. "You're tight," Steve groaned, his head dropping down beside Tony's and resting on the other man's shoulder, his hips picking up a rhythm.

Tony hadn't ever felt so full in his life, rocking against the hard concrete floor below him, a man grunting and plowing into him, forehead hot and pressed down on his shoulder, Tony hadn't ever felt so full or exhilarated. His nerves were on fire and he wasn't even sure if that was his voice crying out and nearly screaming or if he was imagining it. Either way, Steve was big and in seconds was hitting all of the sweet stops. Tony was seeing white after the first strike to his prostate, his hands gripping Steve's back and he was sure he'd made a few lasting marks. Tony wasn't aware of much in those moments but he did hear the one time Steve made a less than manly sound, the desperate whine stuck out in the midst of the man's grunts and silence, but only the one.

Steve's pace and rhythm hitched and grew a little sloppier as he reached his climax, Tony's hand was clumsily grasping at his own arousal, stroking and pumping it blindly, trying to keep it in time with Steve's thrusts though the blonde's pattern was a little skewed. Three long ropes of cum splattered between them, partially soaking into Steve's shirt and the rest slicking Tony's chest. Steve shuddered and fell against him, a tiny nearly silent whimper caught in his throat, his release painting Tony's insides in a few white hot bursts.

They lay gasping for a few moments before Steve pulled out and wiped himself off and return his dick back into his pants. Tony was moving to do the same though Steve quietly stopped him and started licking up the mess Tony had made. The scientist's face remained in a pink flush as he let the blonde's tongue travel all over his sticky torso, lapping up the remnants of their activities. Steve went back down between his legs after cleaning his abdomen, first sucking off the remaining seed from his cock and then down toward his ass again. Tony mewled softly and enjoyed the sweeter touch; eyes closed heavily as he left the feeling of Steve's tongue in his entrance soothe the last of his excitement.

Tony was too tired to really note every detail of Steve dressing him again but he was aware that the other man had done it because the concrete seemed a little further away. Strong arms wrapped around him then and pulled him close, his ear pressed to a warm surface and by the sound of the soft thumping beneath, it was Steve's chest. Tony yawned and curled against his criminal, barely aware of the gentle hand petting his hair.

* * *

"Steve," Bucky's harsh whisper urged Steve into the waking world. The armed guard was squat down on his haunches, and seemed incredibly focussed on something as yet unseen. "Did you hear that?"

"I was asleep, Bucky." The blonde groaned softly, "I did not."

A silent pause. "That. The crying stopped." Bucky flashed the floodlight around their immediate area. "I think we need to get moving, something's going on. Wake your boyfriend," It was a teasing jab, but also a knowing one.

Steve found himself blushing hard enough that he was surprised, he wasn't aware he was still capable of being so flustered. It was nice to know. "Right," He started sitting up and lifted Tony with him, his hand sliding between Tony's legs and groping roughly, manhandling at its finest. "Rise and shine, pretty boy." He kissed Tony's neck and bit it affectionately.

Tony woke with a sharp gasp, his mind firing off in overload to try and make sense of the waking world. His hand found Steve's chest while looking for grounding, "Steve?" Tony questioned, almost groggily despite his abrupt awakening. He lifted a hand to his neck and ran his fingers tentatively over the bite. Tony felt the familiar pink tinge creep across his face –he was really starting to hope that they made it out alive.

Steve smiled and kissed him, "Gotta get up, come on gorgeous."

They started taking the stairs again quickly, Bucky again in the lead, and eager to get to something other than another flight of grey stairs. The quick descent of the following twenty flights was taken in silence, a sense of something just on the horizon pushing them all onwards. And then the flood lamp flickered off and left them in utter darkness.

Steve slowed down and stopped, his eyes and hands searching to grab hold of something, to let himself know he wasn't in the middle of nowhere and that the others were still with him. "Rats..."

"Shit," Bucky cursed aloud. He slung his bag off of his shoulder and began to blindly dig through its contents. "There are spare batteries in here; the light was only going to last 24 hours anyway, this is normal, we expected this." Bucky could feel the panic setting in, a true and irrational fear.

"Just stay calm, Bucky." The blonde said carefully, his hand finding the railing and feeling a little more relieved. "You'll find the batteries, put them in, we'll be fine." They didn't need the guard dropping everything in a frightened panic, that wouldn't help.

When Bucky was ducked down Tony got a glimpse of something just beyond him, the glowing silhouette of a girl in a formless white garb, long black hair trailing over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were glowed an amber color and fixed on the three of them. Her mouth didn't move, and no words were spoken, but Tony could hear something, like someone else's thoughts in his head.

'_Leave_.'

And then the girl vanished from sight. "Fuck!" Tony yelped and jumped into Steve's arms. "Did you see that?"

"Really wish I hadn't." Steve muttered and glanced around, "Hey! We would if we could ma'am, you wouldn't happen to know where the exit is?" He didn't really expect an answer and part of him honestly didn't want one, it meant she'd come back and that wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

"I got it!" Bucky declared, flashing the floodlight around the area to demonstrate. "Who the heck was that chick? Was she the one crying?"

"I don't know if she was," Tony said cautiously, "I mean, why would she be crying for someone to help her, and then tell us to leave?"

"This might be the thing causing someone else to be crying," Steve offered his two cents though he really doubted he was any kind of helpful.

"Whatever the case, if we're being told to leave then that must mean we're getting close to something," Bucky double checked his rifle and nodded to himself, "Let's keep going. I can feel that we're close."

Steve swallowed nervously but nodded his agreement. They couldn't just stay there now anyway. Though really he was getting a bad feeling from all of this, part of him want to hold Tony's hand, whether it was to offer comfort or take his own he wasn't sure. _'You're an adult, act like one.'_ He scolded and took a steady breath. "Let's move out."


	4. Chapter 4

Tony sat very still in the pitch black stairwell, trying desperately to keep his breathing under control. Everything had gone from bad to worse to ugly so fast that he hardly knew what happened. Bucky had led them down, further and further with no encounters with 087-1 or the girl. Tony couldn't tell how far they'd gone, how many flights of stairs they'd descended, but they were in that stairwell for well over 24-hours, and that was longer than any of the other explorations had lasted. They must have been at least 5 km underground, and now Tony was alone in the dark.

"_We aren't getting any closer." Steve complained, sounding a little childish as he did so though it was hard to feel that way about someone as large as him._

"_Shut up, I can feel it, we're close." Bucky argued, his mind focused solely on following that girl. Steve wished he knew what it was that had come over his friend but he made no more moves to argue or whine about their situation. _

_Tony wasn't so convinced though, "Steve's right, we can slow down a little, take a break maybe. It's been a really long time and you haven't slept."_

And then suddenly out of the darkness the crying had started again, but not 200 metres down. It was around the corner of the next platform. Bucky had been the first to break rank, taking the steps down three at a time before turning the corner on the landing. Steve had burst past Tony the second he'd heard Bucky scream. Tony had followed on Steve's heels, not to be left behind, but there was no sign of Bucky at all. There was just a hole through the first three steps, not unlike the one found on the 89th landing by the second Exploration.

"_You hear that?" Bucky bolted forward, taking the light of the flood lamp with him, going far enough that the other two were left in the dark, the light vanishing into the distance along with the armed guard. It was only seconds that followed, Steve wasn't as willing to go down and meet the crying, not after all the speculation of what could be causing it._

_But he changed his mind as soon as Bucky's scream overwhelmed his senses. "BUCKY!" Steve shouted as he leapt down the steps, not needing a light to know how far each one was, he'd been taking these stairs for nearly two days straight already. _

"_Steve?" Tony called hesitantly but followed down the steps swiftly, hoping to catch up to the blonde before something else happened. Steve's shouts were gone immediately, swallowed up by the dark and the suffocating silence, because the crying had stopped entirely again. "Steve!" Tony shouted, fear gripping him as he went down several flights but found no sign of either of the other men, aside from nearly falling into a hole in the first three steps on the second landing. _

"_STEVE!" Tony cried and held tightly onto the railing, about to shout again when he felt a hand touch his face._

"_I'm here." Steve's voice came to him, comforting him despite how sad it sounded. Tony fell against the other man and wrapped his trembling arms around the other's broad shoulders. Steve closed his eyes and held Tony tightly, "Bucky's gone..."_

Tony clutched the camera tightly, looking down into the lens and speaking in a low whisper, "Dr. Banner, I don't know if you can hear this transmission, or if you'll ever see it. Our AWOL mission is really falling apart out here." Tony fell silent as he strained to listen to his surroundings, trying to discern whether he was truly alone. "We encountered a girl earlier, and I'm sure she's already been labelled as 087-2 by now. It's still unconfirmed whether she was the source of the cries for help," Tony stopped again, taking in a series of deep breaths to calm himself and slow his rapid speech. "Officer Bucky Barnes and D-class Steve Rogers are both missing. I'm alone in the stairwell, without the aid of the floodlight. If 087-1 was five inches from my face, I wouldn't be able to see it. For future notice, please equip the transmitting recording device with infrared."

Tony lowered the camera and exhaled shakily. Reporting on the situation made him feel better, if only slightly. He'd never felt so utterly alone. All of his relatively short life he'd lived with computers and technology, the ease of a phone call or a car, and cities full of people. He'd never been fond of camping or soul searching, the concept of 'the great escape' had never had the same allure to him as it seemed to hold for others. But here in this stairwell in the darkest of dark and the screaming silence it was all he could do to talk to a camera that may never be seen.

"Steve Rogers became restless after the disappearance of his friend, and sleep eluded him. After an imperceptible amount of time, he started to claim that the absent Bucky Barnes was talking to him," Tony bit back a frightened snivel, remembering the anxiety that had rooted itself in the face of what could've very well been a mental break, "I couldn't confirm that anyone was speaking at all. It is my opinion that this illusion of Officer Barnes is what lured Steve away."

"_I hear him..." Steve muttered softly as they lay together, curled up in one another's arms and their backs pressed against a wall. It was the last thing Tony heard before falling asleep. Steve had been saying things like that for a while and he had nothing more to say to it other than he couldn't hear it. So he went to sleep._

_Steve looked down at where he knew Tony was though he couldn't see him. He could hear Bucky, sounding like he was a little far off but he could hear him. Steve strained to listen, heart pounding and tears stinging at his eyes. His best friend was somewhere, terrified in the darkness by himself, and Steve was just sitting here. _

"_Steve!" Bucky sounded closer then, and frantic. "Steve help me! Please! Steve!"_

"_Bucky..." Steve got up, leaving Tony against the wall on his own. _

"_HELP ME!" Bucky shrieked and that was enough, Steve couldn't stand the pain in his friend's voice any longer._

"_I'm coming! Bucky hold on!" _

Tony clutched his stomach as it growled with hunger, "Barnes and Rogers had the supply bags. I can't just stay here and wait to die. I'm going to proceed blindly down the stairs... if you're watching this, I pray you seal this stairway off and never open it again." Tony slung the video recorder over his shoulder and stood, following the wall along the platform's perimeter before reaching the railing and beginning his descent.

It was slow going; Tony held onto the railing like a life line and tested every step before taking it. He had no way of knowing if there would even be another step. With repetition he became more confident and moved quicker. He couldn't hear anything, no shuffling and no crying, and no shouts or signs of his missing comrades either. He couldn't help but wonder if they'd planned on ditching him to begin with. Tony hit yet another landing and followed the semi-circular perimeter, only to find that there was no semi circle. Tony backed up to the stairs once more and moved to the other side, what would be the inner perimeter, and tried to turn around to the next stair case –there was none.

Tony lifted the camera again, "I think I've reached the bottom of the stairs. I wish I could see. I'm following along the wall on my right –I have no idea if it's north, south, or what." Tony crept along the wall, his hand out in front of him to try and feel out any obstacles. He strayed away to his left, and found the other wall ran parallel. "It's a hallway, as far as I can tell. There's still no sign of Barnes or Rogers, but if they went down, they must've come this way."

By Tony's estimation, the hall couldn't have been any longer than 400 metres. Tony laughed, his fear momentarily forgotten, "Dr. Banner, there's a door at the end of the hall. There's actually something down here! I'm going to open it, should the camera stop recording I wish you the best of luck on your future endeavours." Tony placed a hand to the iron door; his fingers ran across its surface until grabbing hold of a lever. He pulled the lever and pushed open the door.

* * *

**Matsu's Notes**

**The basic concept of the SCP universe is that there will be many short stories that will inevitably become interwoven. The characters will repeat and reappear in different places at different times with different SCPs. To get the explanation on what happened to Bucky and Steve, you'd have to read other upcoming SCP stories (unless my co-author nags me to add it here). I hope you've enjoyed our sample story.**


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